Calera HS band to march in inaugural parade

President Barack Obama will be sworn in for his second term in less than two weeks in Washington D.C. and there's a local connection to the inaugural ceremonies.

The Calera High School marching band will be in the parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, but the band needs your help.

A total number of 2,800 schools from across the country submitted applications to be in the parade, and only one school from each state was chosen.

In November, band director Ryan Murrell sent a video to the inaugural committee in Washington, D.C. requesting his band represent Alabama in the upcoming presidential inaugural parade.

Murrell and the band were shocked and excited when they learned they had been selected.

The band has been busy raising money to make that very special and memorable trip, but they need the public's help. The travel, lodging and food for the trip totals about $65,000. The band has been busy since mid-December raising money and at this point they're still about $15,000 short.

The band is hoping the public will help out in their last few days of fundraising so the students won't have to pay the rest of the money out of pocket.

Band officials have already made travel arrangements and they'll leave on Friday, Jan. 18 and take a 12 hour bus ride to Washington, D.C. The band is having a fundraiser at Pizza Hut in Calera this Friday, Jan. 11.